BRIAN MONTIETH WINS RAIN-SHORTENED BOB LEIBY MEMORIAL AND CLAIMS 7TH TRACK TITLE;358 Sprint Feature to be Made-up Oct. 6th as the final point race; 358 Late Model Make-up feature won by Bernie Beard while regularly scheduled feature canceled due to the rain

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA 9/1/2018 – Brian Montieth was declared the winner, and 2018 track champion when the 2nd Annual Bob Leiby Memorial was shortened to 18 laps due to rain. Montieth’s win was his 6th of 2018, and the 61st of his career at the Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.

The night’s action started with optimism under relatively clear skies with an energetic large Labor Day Holiday crowd on hand for the Second Annual Bob Leiby Memorial. A memorable pace lap by two sprint cars adorned with the traditional “Leiby” sponsorship colors during the playing of the National Anthem kicked off the night.

The racing action started with a feature right out of the gate as the 358 Late Models ran a make-up feature from the June 23rd Fallen Firefighters Night in Memory of Brandon Little event.

Old-timers and longtime Lincoln fans were treated to special race as all-time leading thundercar feature winner Bernie Beard grabbed the lead from his outside front row starting position over polesitter Bobby Beard at the drop of the green and withstood a pair of cautions to pick up his 73rd career win at the Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.

Bernie Beard smiled ear-to-ear as he collected the $950 winner’s purse which included a $250 bonus. The former champion thanked all his fans and teammates through all his years racing.

The increased purse also benefited second place Paul Cursey and third place Shaun Miller who each collected an additional $150 and $100 respectively.

Then the night’s originally scheduled program of 410 Sprint, 358 Sprints, and 358 Late Models were completed without issue.

The 410 Sprinters then took the green flag for the $4,000-to-win Bob Leiby Memorial. That’s when the night started to go sideways.

The opening lap saw a 9-car melee in the first and second turns which resulted in Chad Trout rolling his sprinter and brought out the red flag. The incident also included Jim Siegel, Alan Krimes, Cory Haas, Cole Young, Chase Dietz, Glenndon Forsythe, Dwayne Gutshall, and Matt Campbell.

Then a light rain began to fall.

It was decided to move up the scheduled fireworks display in hopes the rain would subside and racing could continue afterwards.

The rain did subside and after a brief period of hot laps for the feature cars following the fireworks, the Leiby Memorial resumed from the beginning at around 10 PM, but with a dramatically different starting line-up following the 9-10 cars involved in the opening lap crash.

Tim Wagaman was bumped up to the front for the start of the 25-lap feature and grabbed the lead from polesitter Dan Shetler at the drop of the green.

Kyle Moody, who was bumped up to the second row for the complete restart, got by Shetler for second place on the second lap and chased Wagaman into lapped traffic a few laps later.

But then Montieth happened.

Originally scheduled to start ninth, Montieth took full advantage of his new sixth starting position and quickly moved to the front. Montieth was fourth by the end of the second lap, third by the end of the third lap, and second by the fourth lap as he chased Wagaman into lapped traffic.

Montieth then made what would be his race-winning move around Wagaman on the seventh lap. Even so, at the time, there seemed to be plenty of time for Montieth to be challenged. And it appeared that challenge was going to come from three-time Lincoln winner Freddie Rahmer.

Originally scheduled to start eighth, Rahmer charged from his fifth-starting spot and was quickly making his way to the front, passing Wagaman for second place just before halfway on the 12th lap.

With 10 laps to Montieth had amassed a nearly 3-second lead as they diced through lapped traffic.

But then on the 19th lap Anthony Macri stopped to bring out the caution. With 18 official laps completed, Rahmer basically had erased Montieth’s lead and would have seven laps to make things happen.

But it wasn’t to be.

As they drove under caution the rain began to fall again and the cars were called to the pits. And after consulting the weather radar, and realizing the time that would be involved to make the track race-ready if and when it would stop raning, the promotors opted to end the night. With the 25-lap feature past the halfway point (18 officially completed laps), Montieth was declared the winner, and officially brought an end to the season-long battle for Lincoln Speedway’s 2018 Lawrence Chevrolet 410 Sprint Championship.

Freddie Rahmer finished second and was followed by Wagaman, Moody, and Shelter in third through fifth positions respectively.

The 20-lap 358 sprint feature was then postponed to the final race of the 2018 season on Oct. 6th, the Manufacturers Appreciation Night. The night was to be a point show, and it too will be carried forward to that final race to ultimately determine the 2018 358 Sprint Keizer Aluminum Wheels Track Champion.

And then the regularly scheduled 358 late model feature was forced to be canceled due to no date being available to run them. It was not rescheduled, with the entire 19-car starting feature field splitting the purse equally amongst them.

Heats for the 23 410 sprints were won by Shetler, Campbell, and Wagaman.

Heats for the 25 358 sprints were won by Dylan Norris, Matt Findley, and Chandler Leiby.

Heats for the 20 358 late models were won by Cursey and Bernie Beard.

Lincoln Speedway will be dark next Saturday night, September 8th, but will be back in action the following Saturday night, September 15th with the special 358 Sprints (“K1 RaceGear 358 Sprint Summer Series” event) that will also include the remainder of the August 18th 358 sprint feature which was postponed due to rain after 7 laps were in the books. Also on the schedule will be the PASS/IMCA 305 Sprints, Penn-Mar Vintage Race Car Club, and EMMR. Competition Pit gates will open at 5 PM, Spectator Pit Admission & General Admission gates will open at 5:30 PM. Hot laps will get underway at 7 PM, with heats scheduled to get underway at 7:30 PM.

To get all the latest news, results, schedule changes and rule changes, visit Lincoln Speedway’s website at http://www.lincolnspeedway.com to stay up-to-date on all the action or pending weather conditions at Central Pennsylvania’s “Premier” Saturday night race track – The Fabulous Lincoln Speedway.